Dash to Nowhere

ChatGPT's spamming em-dashes and killing it is like a game of whack-a-mole

Author

Traction
May 06, 2025

You know that old arcade game, whack-a-mole?

You slam one plastic rodent down and another pops up immediately. You swing again, miss, try to track them all, and eventually realize the entire game is rigged to make you feel just competent enough to keep failing.

That’s exactly what it feels like trying to get ChatGPT to stop using em-dashes.

Even after repeated prompts to cut down on the use of em-dashes, they keep surfacing, like some cursed relic from the style guide of a failed Medium editor.

English 101: Know Your Damn Dashes

Here’s a little education for the uninformed.

Dashes come in multiple flavors. And you shouldn’t use them interchangeably like some kind of typographic buffet.

– Hyphen ( - )

Purpose: Joins words.
Usage: Compound modifiers, prefixes.

❝

“State-of-the-art.”
“Ex-boyfriend drama.”
“Crypto-native crowd.”

Clean. Efficient. No drama.

– En dash ( – )

Purpose: Indicates range or contrast.
Usage: Think “from–to” or “X versus Y.”

❝

“2020–2025.”
“Monday–Friday work.”
“Trump–Biden smackdown.”

Subtle. Underused.

— Em dash ( — )

Purpose: Injects pause, tension, or sudden shifts in thought.
Usage: When you're trying to be dramatic, or make an emphasis.

❝

“You had one chance—don’t mess it up.”
“This wasn’t just a prompt—it was a test of character.”

Now watch what happens when you mix them all together:

❝

“The ex-Harvard software engineer—who recently pivoted to AI—sold his startup, which he worked on while having a 9–5 job, for a 8-figure sum.”

You Want Rhythm? Use Actual Tools

Here’s the truth nobody wants to say out loud: people use em-dashes because they don’t know how to write with control.

They confuse pacing with drama.
They confuse interruption with depth.

And because em-dashes mimic the pause of a spoken voice, GPT leans into them like a crutch — dragging them across every paragraph like it’s leaving breadcrumb trails of self-importance.

But if you actually care about rhythm, tone, and clarity?
There are better tools, and you already know them.

1. The Comma (,)

Reliable. Understated. Everywhere. It’s not there to slow things down — it’s there to give your reader just enough room to breathe without falling out of the sentence.

❝

“She drafted, revised, deleted, and started over.”

2. The Period (.)

Still undefeated. A clean stop. A full breath. A sentence that means what it says and ends when it’s done.

❝

“You got a mid output. It’s not the model’s fault. Prompt better.”

3. The Colon (:)

It’s the setup. The invitation. The spotlight you shine before dropping the line that actually matters.

❝

“There’s one reason your writing sounds robotic: you never learned to write.”

4. The Semi-Colon (;)

Scares most users. Connects two ideas without smashing them into one. Keeps your logic flowing without cheapening the transition.

❝

“The copy was clean; the tone was dead.”
“It worked; that didn’t mean it was good.”

Final Thought

The em-dash isn’t evil.

I always loved a good use of it, sparingly.
It packs a punch and is great to make a point. An emphasis.

But GPT uses it like a deodorant used to musk any ill-smelling person.
GPT abuses it like an overcompensating author on his third Medium draft.

And if you don’t learn to edit it out — or better yet, prompt it out — you’re letting the model flatten your voice into the same breathless pseudo-profundity it feeds to everyone else.

Punctuation is voice.
Taste is your weapon.

Pick your pauses.
Cut away those em-dashes and make some edits.
You’ll instantly sound human again.

And remember: if every sentence sounds like a dramatic pause—
then none of them do.